Triangles
by Ron4
Summary: Clark finds out that he's in between three girls: Lana, Chloe, and Marty. A guy from Chloe's past will soon come in and make a new triangle... this time for Chloe.
1. Marty

Triangles  
  
Chapter One: Marty  
  
My name is Martine Louise Victoria Marie Denise Graw. But I go by Marty. Or Vicky, or Denny, or whatever you want to call me. And yes, I realize if you call me Marty, my name would be Marty Graw.  
  
Basically, my parents were hippies back in the day, and they couldn't decide on a name. So, acting on a sudden whim (which isn't unlike them), they put them all together and my name was created. But that's enough about the background of my name. Let's look at how I came to be.  
  
I was born in Smallville, because my parents didn't want to pay the expensive Metropolis General bill that would be if they went there. (Metropolis General is a hospital, if you haven't guessed.) So, I was born in the small, one-story house on Gavin Street, which is still where I live today. But now, along with my hippie parents Victor and Janet, there are my brother and sister: Zane Michael Alexander Edvinder (don't ask) Stevenson Graw and Penndra (again, don't ask) Elizabeth Susan Julia Claire Graw. Yes, we all were unfortunate enough to be born in our parents' hippie period, and they couldn't decide on their names, either. Now, mom's studying to become a lawyer, and dad's a teacher at Smallville High.  
  
This year, I'm a junior at SHS, Zane's a sophomore, and Penny (we call her Penny, can you imagine the embarrassment she'd have if we called her Penndra?) is a freshman. Today will be the first day of the school year, and I can't really say that I'm dreading it, because I look at school as a very important experience. I mean, it's where you meet your friends, decide on future plans, and so much more important stuff... Anyway, flash to the school day...  
  
The first bell of the day rang, sending all students to the gym for the "Fresh New Year Assembly," as the school called it. Everyone sat in the section specially marked off for their grade and waited for the beginning- of-the-year speech. Nobody ever really paid attention to it, but afterwards, the students would be separated into their homerooms where they'd all get their schedules.  
  
When the speech was over, the students stampeded to the wall where the homeroom lists were posted, broken down first by grade, then even further by last name. Marty Graw couldn't believe it when she found out that the school actually put her in her father's homeroom English class. She rolled her eyes, sighed, and headed out of the gym towards room 318, her father's classroom.  
  
Her dad, the only one already there, was sitting at the large desk in the front of the room. "Hey, Marty," he said.  
  
"Ugh," she groaned. She stalked back towards her dad. "Why am I in your 1st period class?"  
  
"I don't know, hon. Is it a problem?" She didn't want to hurt his feelings, so she told him that it wasn't.  
  
"So do I call you dad, or Mr. Graw, or what?" Marty asked.  
  
"Mr. Graw," he said. "And don't think I'll go easy on you because you're my daughter, either."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Do we have assigned seats?" He shook his head, and she dropped her backpack down by a desk in the middle of the room. Soon, other students began to enter the room. Marty didn't really have any close friends. She was sort of friends with Pete Ross and Lana Lang, the two most popular kids in her grade. There were also a couple of other people that she talked to fairly often, Ben Richards and Sadie Hudson, but she didn't exactly have the ultra-cool hipster image.  
  
She watched the students enter to see who was in the class. There was Pete, along with Chloe Sullivan. They sat in the front. Ben was in the class, too, and he sat next to her. "Hey," he said as he pushed his backpack under his desk.  
  
"Hey," she replied. They talked until the next bell rang, causing her dad to stand up and address the class.  
  
"For those of you don't know me, I'm Mr. Graw," he said, shutting the door. "This is Eleventh Grade Advanced English, and this will be your homeroom for the year. I don't like to go through class rules, because everyone already knows them: raise you hand before speaking, keep your hands and feet to yourselves, yadda yadda yadda. All of the boring, little-kid rules apply here. Let's get down to business. I'm supposed to hand out your schedules, so come up when I call your name," he said.  
  
He went through the papers, handing them out to their owners, and soon he called Marty's name. She retrieved her list and went back to her seat. After Ben got his, they compared classes. She had this class first, then chemistry, then trigonometry, then history, lunch, newspaper (it was her first year as a writer on the Torch), study hall, and art. She only had this class and trigonometry with Ben.  
  
"I don't really have anything planned for today, except to hand out your textbooks," her dad said. Each student received the two-year old blue and green text, complete with classic stories, heartfelt poetry, and other readings. Marty groaned as she shoved the book into her bag.  
  
She sighed and turned to talk to Ben again. They chatted about each other's summers until the bell rang. Marty said good-bye to Ben and hoisted her slightly heavier bag onto her shoulder. She glanced at her schedule. Her chemistry class was in room 324, only three rooms down. She walked in, and the teacher greeted her. "Sit anywhere for now, but you'll be assigned a seat when class starts."  
  
"Okay," Marty said. She sat down in the closest lab station, again being the first in the class. As the students slowly began to come into the room, she realized she wouldn't have anybody to talk to at all in this class. Ben had band this hour, Sadie was in a higher science level, and she had seen both Pete and Lana go into a classroom further down the hall.  
  
"Is this seat taken?" a voice asked. She looked up. It was Clark Kent. She had only talked to him a few times, and didn't know him very well.  
  
"No," she said.  
  
"You're Marty, right?" he asked as he sat on the stool to her left.  
  
"Yeah," she answered. "And you're Clark."  
  
"Yep. So what did you do over the summer?" he asked. For not knowing each other well, he sure was being nice.  
  
"Nothing really. I went with my dad to a few teacher association things in Metropolis and Topeka, which were all boring. Other than that, I mainly stayed at home," she said.  
  
"Your dad's a teacher?"  
  
"Yeah. Mr. Graw. Advanced English," she said.  
  
"That's cool. My parents are farmers," he said.  
  
"Yeah, I've seen your farm before," she told him.  
  
"You have?" he asked. He had a questioning look on his face.  
  
"I'm not a stalker or anything. I'm a friend of Lana Lang's. I've been over to her house a few times and I saw your house and farm from there."  
  
"Oh," he said. "Yeah, Lana's cool."  
  
Before she could respond, the teacher started talking. Her voice was so slow and boring that literally about one-forth of the class fell asleep. Marty was thankful when she started assigning lab stations and partners. Marty was partnered with Clark, oddly enough, and they were placed in the front, right station.  
  
Soon, class was over, and Clark and Marty walked down the hall to their next classes. "This is my stop," he said, veering off towards a door where Pete was standing.  
  
"Bye," she said.  
  
Once she had left, Pete said, "Clark, don't tell me it's now a triangle."  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
What is Pete talking about? Find out in the next chapter!  
  
Also, I'd appreciate it if you checked out my Smallville website at www.angelfire.com/sc3/welcometosmallville Thanks! 


	2. Forming the Triangle: Clark

Triangles  
  
Chapter Two: Forming the Triangle - Clark  
  
(Note: Imagine that Metropolis is close enough to Smallville to drive there within twenty or so minutes.)  
  
  
  
"A triangle?" Clark asked.  
  
"Yes, a triangle. A geometrical shape with three sides," Pete said, using his fingers to outline the shape in the air.  
  
"Ha, ha," Clark said dryly.  
  
"I'm talking about your 'love life,' if you can even call it that," Pete told him. "You used to be in the middle of a line... Lana on one end, Chloe on the other. Then Marty comes along, and don't even try to deny that you like her already, because I can see right through you, and she makes it three girls that you're surrounded by, making you inside a triangle."  
  
"Slow down, Pete. I just met the girl. I don't have feelings for her," Clark said.  
  
"You didn't just meet her, Clark. She's always lived in Smallville, and I'm sure you've talked to her before."  
  
"You're impossible," Clark laughed. Pete just grinned and led him to their next class.  
  
- - - - -  
  
Clark sat down next to Pete in their history classroom. Pete told Clark that Chloe was also in the class, and she should be there sooner or later. But it was later. She rushed in right as the bell finished ringing.  
  
"Where were you?" Clark asked as she sat down in front of Pete.  
  
"I was getting my schedule changed and I lost my pass, which I didn't realize until I was halfway here, so I ran the rest of the way," she explained, out of breath.  
  
"A schedule change, huh?" Pete asked.  
  
"Yeah, I had Mr. Stein for trigonometry second hour, so I switched to Mrs. Perkins," she said.  
  
"Good choice," Pete said. "Me and Lana are in that class." He was right; it was a good choice to switch to Mrs. Perkins' class. Mr. Stein was the oldest teacher in the school, and very strict. It wasn't uncommon to hear whispers of 'Franken-Stein" behind his back, followed by snickers.  
  
They didn't get much more chances to talk that period, or for a lot of the day; Clark had English 4th hour, Pete had gym, and Chloe had chemistry. Clark had study hall 5th, and Chloe and Pete had newspaper. Seventh hour, Pete had chemistry and Clark and Chloe had to go to Metropolis for a vocational class. The only class that all three of them had together with Lana was Spanish, 6th hour.  
  
"Hola, and welcome to Spanish One," the short, pretty teacher said. "My name is Señora White and I'll be your teacher this year. Today, being the first day, we'll go over some of the basics to see how much you already know. I'll say a word in Spanish, and if you know its English equivalent, please feel free to raise your hand."  
  
"Hola," she said. Most everyone raised their hands; of course the answer was hello. She also went through 'adios,' 'gracias,' 'sí,' 'no,' and the basic numbers and colors.  
  
"You all seem to know the basics," she said. "Let's try some harder stuff. Does anyone know the meaning of parientes muertos?"  
  
"Did you just say 'dead parents?'" Lana asked. She looked very confused.  
  
"No, I said 'dead relatives.' 'Padres' means parents. The reason I said 'dead relatives' is because El Día de los Muertos is coming up in a little over a month. It's a Spanish holiday in which people have a fiesta for their dead relatives," she explained.  
  
"They celebrate their relatives being dead?" a girl asked.  
  
"No, it's to celebrate that they've moved on to a better place," she said.  
  
The rest of the class period was spent going over words and Spanish culture. Clark and Chloe were glad to be able to leave to their vocational class. Only Clark and Chloe signed up, so they rode the bus all alone.  
  
"I wonder why we were the only two to sign up for this class," Clark observed.  
  
"Probably because it's a hard class. You do realize that this is about five times harder than any high school class, right?" Chloe asked him.  
  
"Yeah," Clark said, scratching his head. He wasn't aware of that, but luckily he had Chloe to help him through it. "How many other people are in this program?"  
  
"There's four from Metropolis, four from Venice, four from Southern City, and four from Townsend, so there are sixteen other people," Chloe said. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked past Clark, out the window. "I think we're almost there."  
  
"Do you know a Marty?" Clark asked.  
  
"Marty Graw? Yeah, I've seen her around, why?" Chloe asked.  
  
"No reason," Clark answered. He didn't know why he had brought it up. Maybe because Pete's words from earlier were starting to echo in his head.  
  
"Ooh, we're here," Chloe said, pulling Clark out and off of the bus. "How exciting," she commented, the excitement showing in her face.  
  
The two entered the tall building. They had entered a lobby/ reception area where a lady was sitting at a desk. "Are you here for the Voc. Class?" she asked. She was young, and seemed kind enough.  
  
"Yes. Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan," Chloe said.  
  
"Mmm. yep," the receptionist said, crossing two names off a list on a clipboard. "Go down this hall, the room is the third one on the right," she said, pointing.  
  
"Thank you," Clark said. He had to pick up his pace to keep up with Chloe. "Slow down, Torch-girl," he said.  
  
"Thanks for the new nickname," Chloe said, opening the instructed door. Inside, thirteen people were already waiting.  
  
"You must be the Smallville High students," a tall man said. He was obviously their instructor.  
  
"Yes," Chloe informed him.  
  
"We're still waiting on the Townsend kids, so just have a seat," he said. There were two empty tables in the room, so Clark and Chloe sat at the one furthest from the door.  
  
"No way," a voice from behind them said. "Chloe Sullivan?"  
  
"Yeah?" Chloe said, puzzled. She turned around. "Cory?"  
  
Clark glanced at the boy that Chloe was talking to from the corner of his eye. He was brown-haired, tall, and Chloe obviously knew him. "Clark, this is Cory Adams. He was one of my best friends in Metropolis!" she introduced.  
  
"Hi," Clark said, shaking the guy's hand.  
  
"Hey," he replied.  
  
"Oh, wow, Cory. I haven't seen you since I moved," she said.  
  
"I know. I've missed you so much," he said.  
  
"I wrote to you, but your letters kept coming back saying there was no such address," she said.  
  
"Oh, I know. LuthorCorp bought our property last year to keep until they needed to use it to build on. We moved to Venice," he told her.  
  
"Oh," she said. They continued chatting, leaving Clark to sit by himself. He realized how Chloe must feel when he talked to Lana and left her out. He mentally remembered to stop doing that.  
  
"Okay, the Townsend students are here, so I'm going to explain everything about this course now," the tall man said. "My name is Drake Cooper, you can call me Drake if you wish, and this is the Advertisement Vocational Class. We have four students each from Metropolis High, Townsend High, Southern City High, Venice High, and two from Smallville High. We're happy that you have chosen to spend this time here and get valuable information for a career in any type of advertisement. Even if you aren't planning on advertisement for a living, I'm sure you'll enjoy this course and find it very informative."  
  
The man, Drake, seemed very down-to-earth and friendly with his students, Clark noticed. He also noticed that Chloe kept glancing over at that Cory kid. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. He watched Chloe instead of listening to Drake. He finally looked away when Drake said: "I don't like to waste time, so we're going to get right to work. I want everyone to get in groups of two, it doesn't matter if it's someone from your school or not, but just pair up with another person."  
  
"Are you partnering with Cory?" Clark asked.  
  
"Why would I? Sure, he's my friend, but I came here with you as my ally, not him. Plus, I wouldn't want you to be left out," she said. Clark immediately felt better. He should have known that that would be her answer.  
  
"Your first assignment will be to make a commercial. You will spend the next week creating a product of your choice, planning everything out about it, and making an informational, video-taped commercial. It needs to be a product, like a clothing chain or new kind of candy or something along those lines. Your commercial is not limited to only your partner and yourself. You can use friends, family, teachers, or anyone who's willing to help you out. Please get to work now, and just call me over if you need any help. Today, you'll be working in here, but you'll be moved to a new position tomorrow. Still, meet here. Okay, get to work," Drake said, realizing that he was droning on.  
  
"What should our product be?" Chloe asked.  
  
"How about a brand of soda?" Clark asked.  
  
"Triangle Soda!" Chloe said.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Where did Chloe come up with that?! Find out in the next chapter.  
  
Also, I'd appreciate it if you checked out my Smallville website at www.angelfire.com/sc3/welcometosmallville Thanks! 


	3. Forming the Triangle: Chloe

Triangles  
  
Chapter Three: Forming the Triangle - Chloe  
  
  
  
"My pass," Chloe mumbled to herself, noticing that the small, white piece of paper had somehow vanished from her hand. She glanced at her watch. She only had about thirty seconds left. Deciding to chance it, she ran past the meager amount of people in the crowd and just made it into her history classroom just as the bell finished ringing.  
  
"Where were you?" Clark asked as she sat down in front of Pete.  
  
"I was getting my schedule changed and I lost my pass, which I didn't realize until I was halfway here, so I ran the rest of the way," she explained, out of breath. For crying out loud, couldn't Clark let her catch her breath before asking her a question? But, looking at his face, she saw that hidden emotion bottled up inside him: concern.  
  
"A schedule change, huh?" Pete asked, interrupting her Clark-evaluation.  
  
"Yeah, I had Mr. Stein for trigonometry second hour, so I switched to Mrs. Perkins," she said.  
  
"Good choice," Pete said. "Me and Lana are in that class." Chloe put one finger up to her mouth, and with the other, pointed towards the front of the room where the teacher was going over class rules.  
  
After the boring history class, Chloe suffered through a boring chemistry class, a surprisingly uneventful Torch research time, and was relieved to be taking her first year of Spanish next. And she had this class with her three closest friends.  
  
Chloe sat down in the half-full class and waited for Clark, Pete, and Lana to arrive. Clark sat to her right, Lana in front of her, and Pete to the right of Lana. "Hola, and welcome to Spanish One," the teacher said once the bell rang. "My name is Señora White and I'll be your teacher this year. Today, being the first day, we'll go over some of the basics to see how much you already know. I'll say a word in Spanish, and if you know its English equivalent, please feel free to raise your hand." I've got this in the bag, Chloe thought.  
  
"Hola," she said. Most everyone raised their hands, but Chloe was called on.  
  
"It means 'hello,'" Chloe said.  
  
"Correct," Sra. White answered. After a volley of back-and-forth questions, she decided to go into more detail. "You all seem to know the basics. Let's try some harder stuff. Does anyone know the meaning of parientes muertos?"  
  
"Did you just say 'dead parents?'" Lana asked. Chloe noticed that she seemed especially on edge when it came to her parents recently.  
  
"No, I said 'dead relatives.' 'Padres' means parents. The reason I said 'dead relatives' is because El Día de los Muertos is coming up in a little over a month. It's a Spanish holiday in which people have a fiesta for their dead relatives," the teacher explained.  
  
"They celebrate their relatives being dead?" a girl asked. Chloe recognized her as Katie Rawlings, she always had to put her two cents in. She was also an extreme snob and one of Chloe's least favorite people. She shook the thoughts away.  
  
She looked at Pete and his intent face. He was really interested in the Spanish language and culture, by the look on his face. Wait. first she had noticed Clark's concern, and now Pete's intentness. Why was she all of a sudden noticing her friends' facial expressions? She really needed a boyfriend before she got too into their faces and started noticing other things about them. She had already messed up with Clark anyway, by saying she just wanted to be friends.  
  
The bell cleared Chloe's thoughts from her head. She became aware of herself falling into a lot of dazes lately. Luckily, though, she was going to a vocational class with Clark that was supposed to be really good for her career (and look good on her college applications next year).  
  
"I wonder why we were the only two to sign up for this class," Clark observed when they were on the bus.  
  
"Probably because it's a hard class. You do realize that this is about five times harder than any high school class, right?" Chloe asked him. Clark got a hard look on his face when he thought about stuff. Stop noticing, Chloe!  
  
"Yeah," he said, a silence following after. Until he said: "How many other people are in this program?" Chloe felt awkward.  
  
"There's four from Metropolis, four from Venice, four from Southern City, and four from Townsend, so there are sixteen other people," Chloe said. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked past Clark, out the window. She needed to get her mind off both Clark and Pete, so she said: "I think we're almost there."  
  
"Do you know a Marty?" Clark asked.  
  
"Marty Graw? Yeah, I've seen her around, why?" Chloe asked. She knew exactly why he asked, but she played along anyway.  
  
"No reason," Clark answered.  
  
"Ooh, we're here," Chloe said, pulling Clark out and off of the bus. "How exciting," she commented, the excitement showing in her face. She didn't look at Clark's to see if he was excited or not.  
  
Soon, they reached the reception desk in the lobby of the building. "Are you here for the Voc. Class?" the woman behind the desk asked.  
  
"Yes. Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan," Chloe said, watching as the woman peered at a list on a clipboard.  
  
"Mmm. yep," she said, crossing off two names "Go down this hall, the room is the third one on the right," she instructed, pointing towards an ugly- carpeted hallway.  
  
"Thank you," Clark said. Chloe walked fast to the room, causing Clark to struggle to keep up. She loved toying with him. "Slow down, Torch-girl," he said, pulling into stride with her.  
  
"Thanks for the new nickname," Chloe said, opening a large glass door. Twelve people of about the same age and an older, balding mad were seated inside.  
  
"You must be the Smallville High students," the tall, balding man said.  
  
"Yes," Chloe said.  
  
"We're still waiting on the Townsend kids, so just have a seat," he said. Chloe chose a table at the far end of the room, dragging Clark with her.  
  
"No way," a voice from behind them said. "Chloe Sullivan?"  
  
"Yeah?" Chloe said, puzzled. Who could that possibly be? She turned around to check. She recognized that face from somewhere. She studied his face for no longer then twenty seconds, and recognized him suddenly. "Cory?"  
  
"Clark, this is Cory Adams. He was one of my best friends in Metropolis!" she introduced. Clark greeted the brown-haired guy, Cory, and shook his hand.  
  
"Oh, wow, Cory, I haven't seen you since I moved," she said, ignoring Clark.  
  
"I know. I've missed you so much," he said.  
  
"I wrote to you, but your letters kept coming back saying there was no such address," she said.  
  
"Oh, I know. LuthorCorp bought our property last year to keep until they needed to use it to build on. We moved to Venice," he told her.  
  
"Oh," she said.  
  
"Okay, the Townsend students are here, so I'm going to explain everything about this course now," the balding man said. "My name is Drake Cooper, you can call me Drake if you wish, and this is the Advertisement Vocational Class. We have four students each from Metropolis High, Townsend High, Southern City High, Venice High, and two from Smallville High. We're happy that you have chosen to spend this time here and get valuable information for a career in any type of advertisement. Even if you aren't planning on advertisement for a living, I'm sure you'll enjoy this course and find it very informative."  
  
During Drake's speech, Chloe kept taking glimpses at Cory. She was so happy to be reunited with her old friend! "I don't like to waste time, so we're going to get right to work. I want everyone to get in groups of two, it doesn't matter if it's someone from your school or not, but just pair up with another person," Drake said.  
  
"Are you partnering with Cory?" Clark asked her, poking her with his finger.  
  
"Why would I? Sure, he's my friend, but I came here with you as my ally, not him. Plus, I wouldn't want you to be left out," she said. She hadn't seen Cory in so long, it would just be weird. Plus, Clark was one of her best friends, and she loved him. She couldn't just push him away for someone she hadn't seen in years.  
  
"Your first assignment will be to make a commercial. You will spend the next week creating a product of your choice, planning everything out about it, and making an informational, video-taped commercial. It needs to be a product, like a clothing chain or new kind of candy or something along those lines. Your commercial is not limited to only your partner and yourself, but you can use friends, family, teachers, or anyone who's willing to help you out. Please get to work now, and just call me over if you need any help. Today, you'll be working in here, but you'll be moved to a new position tomorrow. Still, meet here. Okay, get to work," Drake said.  
  
"What should our product be?" Chloe asked, drumming her fingers on the table. This was going to be so fun.  
  
"How about a brand of soda?" Clark asked.  
  
Chloe had a sudden impulse. "Triangle Soda!" she said, remembering what Pete had told her earlier that day, in the Torch office. He had a hunch that Clark was sort of stuck in a triangle between Chloe, Lana, and this other girl, Marty. She decided that she'd pull the strings on Clark.  
  
"Where'd you come up with that?" Clark burst, almost instantly after she had said it.  
  
"I just came up with it, I guess. Why?"  
  
"Just wondering," he said. He was so afraid to release his feelings!  
  
Just then, Chloe realized that she was, too. And, thinking about it, she had her own triangle. Clark and Pete, like Clark's Chloe and Lana, and Cory. like Clark's Marty. Cory was the perfect answer to her problems. Clark would go out with Marty, and she would go out with Cory.  
  
"Will you go out with me?" a boy's voice asked. She knew that voice.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
Who was it?! Find out in the next chapter. 


End file.
